“The Republicans are no longer the party of small, limited government, fiscal sanity, states and individual rights, and the Constitution. In their own way, they have become as bloated, hypocritical, invasive, and spendthrift as much of the worst the Democrats have to offer.” – Bill Quick, DailyPundit. I’m basically with Bill, although we disagree about a few particulars.
SCHIAVO AND CONSERVATISM: My thoughts on this trial in the life of a vegetative woman and her family. It’s been striking lately how the rhetoric of some conservatives has morphed into revolutionary tones. Bill Kristol, at heart an ally of religious radicalism, calls for a revolution against the independent judiciary we now have. Fox News’ John Gibson has argued that “the temple of the law is not so sacrosanct that an occasional chief executive cannot flaunt it once in a while.” Bill Bennett has said that the courts are not the ultimate means to interpret law and the constitution, that the people, with rights vested in the Declaration of Independence, have a right to over-turn the courts if judges violate natural law precepts such as the right to life. Beneath all this is a struggle between conservatives who place their faith in the formalities of constitutionalism and those who place their literal faith in the God-revealed truths they believe are enshrined in the Declaration, truths that alone give meaning, in their eyes, to America as a political project. Here’s an interesting essay on the divide among Straussians on this point, particularly between Harry Jaffa and Harvey Mansfield Jr.
The Dish 